davis



UNiTED sTArns vki,rrgrnNr OFFICE.

D. E. ROHR, OF GHARLESTOWN, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND THOS. W.DAVIS, 0F SAME PLACE.

WASHING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 20,244, dated May 11, 1858.

To all whom 'it may concern.'

Be it known that I, DAVID E. Rona, of Charlestown, in the county of Jefferson and State of Virginia, have invented, made, and used certainnew and useful Improvements in vWashing-Machines; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making apart of this specification, Figure 1 being a perspective view of themachine complete. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the casingor box part of the machine, exposing the internal devices and theirposition before the clothes are rubbed. Fig. 3 is also a longitudinalsectional view of the machine, showing the position of the devices inthe act of bringing them in contact with the clothes.

The nature of my invention consists of constructing a washing machinehaving rubbing devices of a peculiar shape, which I describe as follows:In Figs. 2, and 3, a, a is a device constructed of a solid piece of tirnber, of suitable length and diameter; one half of the circumferencethroughout the given length thereof being shaped into two smoothsurfaces, the faces or planes b, b of which must be at right angles toeach other. The corner produced by the rectangular planes, is thendressed off, forming another smaller, or narrow face or plane as at c,from three to four inches wide. The other half of the surface of thesolid, is formed in a semicircle as at 0l, d. Thus one half of thecircumference will be circular or convex, while the other portionpresents two equal planes, and a smaller plane.

Longitudinally across the face of the semicircular face, are attachedparallel ridges, iutes, beads or grooves e, e, e, e, e, e, and thiscompound device as will be seen is arranged upon an axle or shaft, y,having a crank handle g, g, and is inserted within the casing toward theback part of the casing as in the Figs. 2, and 3. The other peculiardevice I term a sliding reciprocating Scoop h, h, having attached to itsfront concave, fluted, (grooved, or ridged) squeezer or washboard z',z', -J, J, J, J, J. This second compound device is attached and hung toa suspension-yoke device K, K-L, L-m. The rod part m, being the pivotjoint entering the sides of the sliding scoop. The L part is the yokebeam, formed with journal ends n n n working in boxes or suitable bearings formed in or attached to the upper edges of the casing in anysuitable manner as at 0, 0, o, o. To one end of the yokebeam is mortisedor attached an elbow P, P, the lower end working on a pivot pin g,within a slot or longitudinal mortise 7', 7', formed in a reciprocatingconnection rod s, s, s one end of which works on a joint crank arm t, t,t, formed on the end of the axle or shaft f, passing through the deviceA. This rod can be adjusted to give a longer or shorter movement to thescoop h, h.

The casing of the machine is mounted on two back legs or supports u, u,and one front leg fv. This front leg is about two or three inches longerthan the back legs, and is so intended in order to raise the front endof the machine, and to incline or slope the bottom backwardly. hinged,or xed cap or covering w, fw, lw may be attached to the upper or toppart of the casing over the device a. A spigot or stop cock is to beinserted in the back end so as to admit of the discharge or drawing offof the unclean water when desired.

The operation of my machine is as follows: The casing or body part ofthe machine, is supplied with the required quantity of water (hot orcold) according to requirements of the clothes to be washed, and asupply of soap is thrown into the water to produce suds. The articles tobe washed are then deposited in the machine upon the face of thesqueezer or washboard z', J, J, when the crank is turned, and therotating rubbing, device a, being revolved, from left to right, theiiutes or beads e, e, e, c, come in contact with the clothes as thesqueezer or washboard J, J, J, J, advances toward the beads, and whilethe device a, is rotating around in the direction of the arrow, over andunder. The device, or sliding scoop la, k, moves to and fro, orreciprocates, back and forth, and thus while the device a, has acontinuous, motion, around, the sliding scoop device z. 7L, has analternating motion.

It will be observed that by my peculiarly constructed and combinedmechanism, the clothes do not pass of'f the squeezer or washboard, andmove under or around the device a, but instead by the peculiar action ofthe devices, the clothes are alternately rubbed If desired a 4 by thegrooves or beads e, c, e, e, e, andY squeezed or pressed by the groovesor beads z' z' z' and, as the surfaces or planes Z), c, presentthemselves, the clothes are no longer held or squeezed, but arepermitted to fall, down into the suds, or Water, While the narrow facec, lifts the clothes, and changes or turns them in their position. Thusis the rubbing, squeezing, lifting and dipping of the clothes broughtabout in an automatical manner, producing the result of hand Washing,and so simple is the construction and operation of my Washing machinethat a childv of ten years of age can do the Wash-A ing, almost asreadily as a grown person and bringing about a great economy of time andlabor.

DAVID E. Roi-IR. [1.. sg

Witnesses:

JOHN D. LINE, WM. M. LooK.

